Gov. John Hickenlooper understands that a rotten apple doesn’t always spoil the whole bunch. That’s why he was wise last week to reappoint five of the 10 county trustees whom he forced off the job last month in the wake of stories that were critical of practices in trustee offices across the state.

But the cleanup job is not done yet, and we’re eager to see what sort of legislative fixes the governor and the legislature come up with for the state’s trustees system.

County trustees — a position created by the legislature 18 years after Colorado became a state — are intended to balance the rights of lenders and borrowers. Each of Colorado’s 64 counties has a trustee. Ten are appointed by the governor and most of the rest are elected. Modifications have been made to the system over time, but clearly an update is in order.

By nearly every account, the trustees who are returning to their jobs had previously done them properly, putting the public interest above their own.

That can’t be said for those who are no longer on the job and several others, however.

In the stories that prompted the July house-cleaning, The Denver Post’s David Migoya reported on the use of public money for personal benefit or to provide employees with excessive perks — immense profits that went to offset county budgets and other questionable practices.

We think lawmakers ought to scrutinize the role of trustees with an eye toward creating systemic checks and balances — and that appears to be what the governor will ask of them.

“No matter what form the legislation may take, it must maintain transparency, accountability and consistency among public trustees statewide,” Hickenlooper said in a statement.

Some may also question whether it’s time to let all counties select their own trustees. We’re reserving judgment on that point, but we will point out that the current setup allowed for a relatively quick fix to some of the mess uncovered in Migoya’s reporting.

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